I CAN DO IT DIFFERENTLY: A Brave Phone Campaign Against Physical Punishment of Children

Doc. dr. sc. Bruna Profaca, prof. of psychology from the Child and Youth Protection Center of Zagreb, prof. of psychology Sanja Jozić from kindergarten, social worker and parent representative Jadranka Lukin and psychologist Vanda Božić from the Brave Phone spoke on the Round Table “I Can do It Differently: What Instead of Physical Punishment?” organized by the Brave Phone at the Child and Youth Protection Center of Zagreb on October 5, 2018.

– Despite the law, parents still continue to use physical punishment. Although some see it as an educational method, most parents admit it is a loss of control or the feeling of helplessness that makes them do it. For this very reason, with this campaign we aim to advise it can be done differently and how to replace physical punishment with positive disciplinary methods. – said Hana Hrpka, President of the Brave Phone.

This roundtable was organized within the campaign “I can do it differently: what instead of Physical Punishment?” Which will be presented durin October as part of the project “From politics to reality – Changing attitudes and practices from physical punishment to child protection measures”. The project is aimed at combating and preventing physical punishment of children through co-operation and exchange of experience between relevant experts, and co-financed by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Program and the Office of the Government’s Office for NGOs. The central part of the campaign is the promotional video “I Can Do It Differently”(in Croatian).

Parents often use physical punishment as an educational method because of incorrect beliefs about the effectiveness of that method. Many believe that a casual spank to a child cannot be harmful and that it is the only way a child learns that he can’t do certain things. However, research shows that physical punishment reduces the likelihood that a child will truly learn what his parents want him to learn.

Instead of physical punishment, parents can use a number of other methods to set the limits, depending on the child’s age. Therefore, it is important to lead with the idea that every child needs respect, attention, trust, and love.

Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children (SRSG), in cooperation with Council of Europe, convened a Cross-Regional Meeting (CRM) on violence against children and invited the Director of Child Protection Center of Zagreb Assoc. Prof. Gordana Buljan Flander, PhD, to speak as an expert at the cross-regional meeting.

At the ChildHub webinar "Adapting the Barnahus conception to the local context" today, May 24, 2018 at 4 pm (in Croatia, local time) lectures will be held by Anna M. Pettersson, social worker - coordinator at Barnahus in Linköping, Sweden and prof. Gordana Buljan Flander, PhD, Director of Child and Youth Protection Center of Zagreb.

Director's noteUnfortunately, even today it is difficult for some parents to seek help and admit that it is not easy for them to face the challenges of parenting. I would like to inform all parents that it is not shameful or a sign of parental incompetence to ask for help when we need it, in fact, we are doing harm to our child otherwise. When we seek help we are taking care not only of the child, but also of the family and for ourselves, and we are showing the child that it's okay to not to know the answer sometimes or not to be able to do it yourself as long as you work hard and try to solve the problem.

Parent to parentTopicsAt the very beginning of the process of divorce I was not aware of the pitfalls in which I found myself at all. The biggest burden at that time were my feelings of confusion, hurt and anger. All this resulted in a strong sense of fear, which sometimes literally paralyzed me and caused panic. Numerous questions have been opened every day, on that I alone could not find an answer.

The Brave Phone

Brave Phone responses to the need for safety and security of each and every child. Brave Phone enables the voices of children to be heard and systematically works to prevent cruelty and injustice to children. In its work, Brave phone is guided by the principle of expertise and availability.